Field of the Invention
This invention relates to iodophor solutions comprising iodine, a water soluble glycide polymer, (i.e. polymer of glycidol, 2,3-epoxy-propanol-(1)) optionally phosphoric acid, and water in an amount sufficient so that the aqueous solution comprises 100 weight percent.
Iodophor solutions are aqueous solutions of complex iodine compounds with a content of active iodine of about 0.5 to about 4% by weight. The iodophor solution can be used as a disinfectant after dilution with water to the active iodine concentration required for any given application.
Iodophors and iodophor solutions are known in the art. Typical of these substances are iodophors and iodophor solutions based on polyvinyl pyrrolidone (U.S. Pat. No. 2,706,701). Such iodophors and iodophor solutions have the disadvantage that at most only 67% of their entire iodine content is available as active iodine for the purposes of disinfecting. According to the studies of Robert F. Cournoyer, Polymer Chemistry Edition 12, 603-612 (1964), this not only applies for iodine compounds, but also when elementary iodine alone is used in the production of polyvinyl pyrrolidone iodophors.
Iodophors based on surfactants are also known in the prior art (U.S. Pat. No. 2,977,315). In these iodophors the ratio of active iodine to total iodine is generally somewhat more favorable than in the case of polyvinyl pyrrolidone iodophors. However, the polyvinyl pyrrolidone iodophors have the disadvantage of being extremely viscous, and are therefore very difficult to pump. The polyvinyl pyrrolidone iodophors previously used in industrial systems required up to 65% of a relatively expensive viscosity lowering agent, e.g., hydroxy acetic acid (German Pat. No. 1,171,112) in order to make the products pumpable and thus industrially usable.
These surfactant-based iodophors exhibit a strong inclination to foaming rendering them unsuitable for many industrial purposes where the development of foam is undesirable. For example, they have not been found to be satisfactory with the newer methods of jet and heated high pressure jet spray cleaning employed in breweries.
Furthermore, iodophor solutions consisting of phosphoric acid, citric acid, sodium polymethacrylate, sodium xylene sulfonate, iodine, hydroiodic acid and water are known in the art (U.S. Pat. No. 3,150,096). These iodophor solutions exhibit the disadvantages of requiring precise amounts of various components. A further disadvantage of these solutions is that surface active compounds (sodium xylene sulfonate) have to be used for iodine solubilization, so that detergent-free iodophor solutions cannot be produced.